Disney/Marvel

[Moefiz]

Disney to Buy Marvel Entertainment for $4 Billion
August 31, 2009, 9:27 am

The Walt Disney Company said on Monday that it has agreed to buy Marvel Entertainment, bringing together the house of Mickey Mouse with the publisher of Spider-Man, for $4 billion in cash and stock.

Under the terms of the deal, Disney will pay $30 a share in cash and .745 Disney shares for every Marvel share, with no less than 40 percent of the deal being made in stock. Disney valued the deal at $50 a share as of the companies’ share prices on Friday.

Isaac Perlmutter, Marvel’s chief executive, will continue to oversee his company’s properties, including more than 5,000 characters that also include Iron Man and the X-Men.

Marvel has had a string of successful movies based on its characters, which analysts have praised in part for the company’s taking an active role in their production.

“This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said in a statement.

“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” Mr. Perlmutter said.

Marvel was advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch...

Don't know if this is such a good ideal...

Could be great in some cases...

[bandit29]

Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co. said it agreed to buy Marvel Entertainment Inc. for about $4 billion in a stock and cash transaction, gaining comic-book characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man and Captain America.

Marvel shareholders will receive $30 a share in cash plus 0.745 Disney shares, the companies said today in a statement distributed by Business Wire.

Disney is buying the company, also the owner of the X-Men series, after films based on Marvel characters set box-office records. The deal gives Disney ownership of more than 5,000 Marvel characters.

Disney fell 84 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $26 at 9:15 a.m. New York time, before U.S. exchanges opened. Marvel jumped 26 percent to $48.63.

(The companies will hold a conference call at 10:15 a.m. New York time today at http://corporate.disney.go.com/inves...entations.html.)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aE7Y3rcPbEaM

[RiseDarthVader]

I don't know about this we could either get better movies or have everything milked the crap out of.

[Elandyll]

Just saw that on the news. I was like .. WTH ?

[Steve]

I never saw this one coming. However, after some of Disney's recent films (POTC for example) I'm not necessarily convinced it's a bad thing, but we'll have to wait and see to know for sure.

[MaCruz]

There's another thread on the movie/tv dicussion there too..

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=112515

[ShockWave]

This is great from the stand point of the parks too! My kids are Disney babies and I know my son will love to see all his favorite hero's at the parks. Very exciting to me!!

[SirSomerville]

Originally Posted by RiseDarthVader

I don't know about this we could either get better movies or have everything milked the crap out of.

Aren't they already doing that with these super-hero movies?

[cflames89]

UPDATE #2: John Lasseter met with Marvel last week about a possible team-up between Marvel and Pixar and got "pretty excited, pretty fast." They say there's definitely an opportunity there.

This is quite possibly the greatest thing I have ever read on the internet.

[doctorD]

Originally Posted by cflames89

This is quite possibly the greatest thing I have ever read on the internet.

This tells me that Lionsgate's days as Marvel's animation distributor are numbered!

[jadedeath]

Originally Posted by AintNoSin

This doesn't affect the existing film franchises. Universal still has the film rights to Iron Man, Hulk, etc, Fox still has X-Men, Sony still has Spider-Man. Those contracts are still valid. Disney just bought company that sold the film rights, so now they can profit from those movies too, but the film rights stay with the current owners.

Universal doesn't have the rights to Iron Man and the Hulk now... distribution perhaps, but those are for THOSE FILMS ONLY, it might be a time window, it might not, who knows.

GreenScar do you have any other information on that?

Logan

[Jimbo976]

Not sure if this is elsewhere on here already or not..

By David Goldman, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: August 31, 2009: 9:51 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Walt Disney Co. announced Monday that it has agreed to purchase comic book and action hero company Marvel Entertainment for about $4 billion.

If Marvel shareholders approve the deal, they would receive $30 per share in cash and 0.745 shares of Disney for each share of Marvel that they hold.

"We believe that adding Marvel to Disney's unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation," said Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger, in a statement.

Marvel has launched a large number of action-hero movies over the past decade, including last summer's Iron Man blockbuster, which was fully financed by by the comic book company. Marvel also holds the rights to popular action hero characters like Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and Thor.

"Disney is the perfect home for Marvel's fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses," said Marvel Chief Executive Ike Perlmutter. "This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney's tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world."

Shares of Marvel (MVL) soared 27% in morning trading. Shares of Disney (DIS, Fortune 500) were flat

http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/31/news...rvel/index.htm

[Blu-Benny]

wow!!!

[RBBrittain]

Could THIS be why Sony abandoned the "Spider-Man font" for the PS3 logo?

[toneloctr]

This could be great for Marvel, with Disney's willingness to throw out sequel after sequel we might be seeing numerous Marvel movie series now.

[P@t_Mtl]

Same thread as this

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...41#post2269141

[demers_60]

Originally Posted by toneloctr

This could be great for Marvel, with Disney's willingness to throw out sequel after sequel we might be seeing numerous Marvel movie series now.

And you honestly see this as a good thing?!

[MountainDewMe]

Sorry if this is old news.

Originally Posted by ComingSoon.Net

A huge announcement this morning - Disney is going to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion!

Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.

Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

“This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. “Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney.”

“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation,” Iger said.

“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer. “This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world.”

Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Mr. Perlmutter will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney’s global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel’s properties.

The Boards of Directors of Disney and Marvel have each approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, effectiveness of a registration statement with respect to Disney shares issued in the transaction and other customary closing conditions. The agreement will require the approval of Marvel shareholders. Marvel was advised on the transaction by BofA Merrill Lynch.

UPDATE #1: In a conference call, the companies said that the deals for movies for characters at other studios (Spider-Man, X-Men, etc.) will stay in place under the terms set by Marvel and the other studios.

UPDATE #2: John Lasseter met with Marvel last week about a possible team-up between Marvel and Pixar and got "pretty excited, pretty fast." They say there's definitely an opportunity there.

UPDATE #3: The deal with Paramount Pictures to distribute "Iron Man 2," "Thor," "Captain America" and "The Avengers" stays in place as well, but Disney would like to self-distribute down the line. "When the time comes we'll take a closer look at it." It was actually stated that the deal still included five films, so that is one more film after "The Avengers."

I hope they don't ruin Marvel but the Pixar & Marvel thing sounds cool

[Chordata]

This is already the 4th thread on this today.

Why.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...ghlight=marvel

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...ghlight=marvel

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...ghlight=marvel

[MyBlu-rayBrotherEd]

Originally Posted by O_V_N

This is already the 4th thread on this today.

Why.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...ghlight=marvel

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...ghlight=marvel

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...ghlight=marvel

Because with a quick scan of titles "mickey mouse and friends" doesn't stick out when you are looking for "Disney" and "Marvel"....that's my excuse anyways, and I've requested it be deleted.